The solace of quantum
Eavesdropping on secret communications is about to get harder

A third project, organised by Jane Nordholt of Los Alamos National Laboratory, has just demonstrated how a pocket-sized QKD transmitter called the QKarD can securesignals sent over public data networks to control smart electricity grids. Smart grids balance demand and supply so that electricity can be distributed more efficiently. (full story)


Schrödinger’s iPad? New Breakthroughs in Quantum Computing

Two developments in quantum computing in the past couple of weeks include government scientists at Los Alamos National Laboratory revealing that they developed a secure quantum computing network two years ago! (watch it here)



This story also appeared in Homeland Security Today

Our Endangered Nuclear Weaponeers
No more nukes means no more experts, and their talents have kept us safe.

It takes a nuclear weaponeer to stop a nuclear weaponeer. And I should know.

In the 1990s, I designed nuclear bombs at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. In the 2000s at Los Alamos, I ran one of the largest programs to reduce thethreat of weapons of mass destruction, directing hundreds of professionals who had worked for decades on all aspects of nuclear weapons. The background, experience and judgment of these weaponeers were responsible for successfully mitigating and preventing various nuclear threats, details of which are still classified. (full story)

Researchers Explain Magnetic Field Misbehavior in Solar Flares: The Culprit is Turbulence

When a solar flare filled with charged particles erupts from the sun, its magnetic fields sometime break a widely accepted rule of physics. The flux-freezing theorem dictates that the magnetic lines of force should flowaway in lock-step with the particles, whole and unbroken. Instead, the lines sometimes break apart and quickly reconnect in a way that has mystified astrophysicists.

But in a paper published in the May 23 issue of the journal Nature, an interdisciplinary research team led by a Johns Hopkins mathematical physicist says it has found a key to the mystery. The culprit, the group proposed, is turbulence -- the same sort of violent disorder that can jostle a passenger jet when it occurs in the atmosphere. Using complex computer modeling to mimic what happens to magnetic fields when they encounter turbulence within a solar flare, the researchersbuilt their case, explaining why the usual rule did not apply. (full story)

This story also appeared in Space Fellowship

U.S. weapons-grade uranium shipments to Chalk River near end

The U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration applied last week to Washington regulators for a new license to export seven kilograms of highly-enriched uranium (HEU) to Canada. Approval seems assured.

The HEU will be used as “target” material and irradiated in core of the NRU research reactor to produce six varieties of radioactive isotopes for life-saving nuclear medicine.

The U.S. has promising research underway too. The Los Alamos National Laboratory, for one, announced last week that for the first time, irradiated uranium fuel from has been recycled and reused for molybdenum-99 (Mo-99) production, with virtually no losses in Mo-99 yields or uranium recovery. Tc99m is a decay product of Mo-99. (full story)

NASA Confirms That Curiosity Found An Ancient Martian Stream

Last year, NASA announced that the Curiosity rover had found preliminary evidence of an ancient streambed, indicating that water once flowed freely on Mars. After a few more months of study, that preliminary announcement has been confirmed – Curiosity has found the remains of an ancient stream.

In addition, Curiosity’s ChemCam  also took pictures of the rocks. ChemCam is a high powered laser that is used to blast tiny parts of the rock. The camera in ChemCam then captures the photons that are produced as a result. The spectra produced tell scientistswhat the chemical compositions of the rock are. (full story)

Securing power grids from cyber attacks key to energy security

Securing power grids against cyber attacks is going to pose  critical security challenge. Speaking to top US energy executives near Washington, Charles McMillan, director of the US Los Alamos National Laboratory, said, that securing the electrical grid is becoming more serious.

Scientists are pretty pleased with the results so far, said Roger Wiens, a Los Alamos National Laboratory geochemist, who is among the international gaggle of researchers using Curiosity’s data to learn more about the Red Planet. Wiens will talk about Mars, the rover mission and what scientists have learned so far during a free talk Tuesday, May 14, at 7 p.m. at the James A. Little Theater in Santa Fe. (full story)

Nuking Asteroids: Why One Scientist Wants To Blow Up Space Rocks [VIDEO]

As the QE2 asteroid, a piece of rock nine times the size of a cruise ship, flies past Earth thisweek, one scientist has made headlines by suggesting we nuke asteroids that may be headed our way. (watch the video)








Research Effort Deep Underground Could Sort Out Cosmic-Scale Mysteries

The Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory has begun delivery of germanium-76 detectors to an underground laboratory in South Dakota in a team research effort that might explain the puzzling imbalance between matter and antimatter generated by the Big Bang.

ORNL's partner institutions in the Majorana Demonstration Project are Black Hills State University, Duke University, Institute for Theoretical and Experimental Physics (Russia), Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (Russia), Los AlamosNational Laboratory, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, North Carolina State University, Osaka (Japan) University, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, Triangle Universities Nuclear Laboratory, Centre for Particle Physics (Canada), University of Chicago, University of North Carolina, University of South Carolina, University of South Dakota, University of Tennessee and the Center for Experimental Nuclear Physics and Astrophysics. (full story)

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The solace of quantum

Jane Hordholt.  LANL photo.

Jane Nordholt of Los Alamos National Laboratory has just demonstrated how a pocket-sized QKD transmitter called the QKarD can secure signals sent over public data networks to control smart electricity grids.

Smart grids balance demand and supply so that electricity can be distributed more efficiently. This requires constant monitoring of the voltage, current and frequency of the grid in lots of different places—and the rapid transmission of the results to control centres. That transmission, however, also needs to be secure in case someone malicious wants to bring the system down. (Full Story)

Los Alamos team ready for next step on quantum communications project

From left: Glen Peterson, Kevin McCabe, Raymond Newell, Jane Nordholt and Richard Hughes. LANL photo.

Top-secret Los Alamos National Laboratory has not been deliberately keeping a secret about its new hyper-secure information technology. It’s just that the lab’s ongoing quantum communications project, which has already set world records and won important science prizes, has been undergoing another evolution from theory and experimentation to practice. (Full Story)

Cyber attacks to grow as a threat to U.S. energy grid, Los Alamos head says

Director Charlie McMillan displays a QKarD, a device that transmits secure signals. LANL photo.

Cyber attacks, currently a serious threat to the American energy system, are set to become only more substantial in the coming years, said Dr. Charles McMillan, the director of Los Alamos National Laboratory.

“Another area that I’d like to treat as an example is the security issues associated with our critical infrastructure,” McMillan said. “To just give you as sense of scale, in the time that it took me to say the last sentence my external firewalls at Los Alamos were challenged hundreds of times.” (Full Story)

Domestic production of medical isotope Mo-99 moves a step closer

The Isotope Production Facility.  LANL photo.
 
Los Alamos National Laboratory announced that for the first time, irradiated uranium fuel has been recycled and reused for molybdenum-99 (Mo-99) production, with virtually no losses in Mo-99 yields or uranium recovery. This demonstrates the viability of the separation process, as well as the potential for environmentally- and cost-friendly fuel recycling. Medical isotope production technology has advanced significantly now that scientists have made key advances in separating Mo-99 from an irradiated, low-enriched uranium (LEU) solution. (Full Story)

Bradbury to honor military personnel

Los Alamos National Laboratory’s Bradbury Science Museum is again partnering with the National Endowment for the Arts, Blue Star Families Foundation and the Department of Defense in the Blue Star Museums program to host active duty military personnel and their families from Memorial Day through Labor Day. (Full Story)

Argonne works for HIV vaccine

Cutting-edge research at UChicago’s Argonne National Laboratory is a potential first step to the development of an HIV vaccine. The research, focused on mapping the development of the CH103 antibody, was a collaborative effort, bringing together analysis conducted at Los Alamos National Laboratory and experiments conducted at Argonne. (Full Story)

Researchers explain magnetic field misbehavior in solar flares: The culprit is turbulence

Solar Storm.  NASA image.

An interdisciplinary research team says it has found a key to the mystery. The culprit, the group proposed, is turbulence -- the same sort of violent disorder that can jostle a passenger jet when it occurs in the atmosphere.

Co-authors of the Nature study from Johns Hopkins include Hussein Aluie, from the Department of Applied Mathematics and Statistics; Aluie is also affiliated with the Los Alamos National Laboratory. (Full Story)

Los Alamos begins pumping tests on chromium plume

Well R-50 at Los Alamos National Laboratory has detected chromium at levels which exceed New Mexico standards. LANL photo.

Los Alamos National Laboratory will begin pumping tests this summer at two groundwater monitoring wells located on Lab property within a chromium plume in the regional aquifer.

The purpose of the pumping tests is to refine understanding of the plume properties within the regional aquifer and evaluate the potential for large-scale pumping to remove chromium. (Full Story)

LANL makes strides in cleaning runoff

Engineer Erin English, with Biohabitats, Inc., a firm representing the Communities for Clean Water (CCW), gave the Regional Coalition of LANL Communities a progress report on Los Alamos National Laboratory’s efforts at storm water management.  English spoke highly of the LANL storm water team.          

“We’ve actually ended up in quite a collaborative process and have found that the LANL folks have gone far above what they had committed to doing as a result of that lawsuit.” (Full Story)

Exascale advocates stand on nuclear stockpiles

While exascale funding hearings are nothing new, yesterday’s appeal struck a different chord, harmonizing with the urgency of ensuring U.S. nuclear capabilities—a note that has been resonating in headlines lately.

From the beginning, this Stewardship and associated Simulation and Computing program pulled in funding—breathing new life into research endeavors at a number of national labs, most notably Sandia, Lawrence Livermore and Los Alamos. (Full Story)



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Domestic Production of Medical Isotope Mo-99 Moves a Step Closer at Los Alamos

Today, Los Alamos National Laboratory announced that for the first time, irradiated uranium fuel has been recycled and reused for molybdenum-99 (Mo-99) production, with virtually no losses in Mo-99 yields or uranium recovery. This demonstrates the viability of the separation process, as well as the potential for environmentally- and cost-friendly fuel recycling. Medical isotope production technology has advanced significantly now that scientists have made key advances in separating Mo-99 from an irradiated, low-enriched uranium (LEU) solution. (full story)

This story also appeared in Phys.Org and the Los Alamos Monitor

A Hack-Proof Internet Exists, Thanks to Quantum Physics

Leave it to the quantum physicists at Los Alamos National Labs to have run for the past two years something that sounded like science fiction: a quantum Internet that promises perfectly secure online communications. (full story)




This story also appeared in The Connectivist

 
Questions and answers with Eric J. Heller

Eric (Rick) Heller is the Abbott and James Lawrence Professor of Chemistry and professor of physics at Harvard University, where he received his PhD in chemical physics in 1973. He has held faculty positions at UCLA and the University of Washington and a scientific staff position at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico.

Heller's research focuses on few-body quantum mechanics, spectroscopy, scattering theory, nanophysics, and condensed-matter physics. He also produces computer-generated prints based on his research. His art has been featured in private and public collections, in traveling exhibits, and on his website. (full story)
 
Antibody evolution could guide HIV vaccine development

Observing the evolution of a particular type of antibody in an infected HIV-1 patient, a study spearheaded by Duke University, supported by analysis from Los Alamos National Laboratory, has provided insights that will enable vaccination strategies that mimic the actual antibody development within the body. (full story)






McMillan talks 'Moneyball'

Los Alamos National Laboratory director Charlie McMillan spent the good portion of his week in Washington and one of his stops was Capitol Hill where he testified at a hearing before a Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Strategic Forces. (full story)




Also from the Monitor this week:
Two LANL scientists honored by DOE

Two Los Alamos National Laboratory researchers are among the 61 national recipients of the Energy Department’s Early Career Research Program awards for 2013.

Marian Jandel won for his proposal, “New Data on Neutron Reactions Relevant to Basic and Applied Science,” selected by the Office of Nuclear Physics. (full story)

This story also appeared in the Los Alamos Daily Post

 
Curious about Curiosity? Get scoop on rover at lecture

The NASA Mars rover Curiosity is a nuclear-powered workhorse about the size of a small Jeep. Since it landed Aug. 6, 2012, to great public fanfare back on Earth, the six-wheeled Curiosity has been busily photographing and sampling the planet and collecting data.

Scientists are pretty pleased with the results so far, said Roger Wiens, a Los Alamos National Laboratory geochemist, who is among the international gaggle of researchers using Curiosity’s data to learn more about the Red Planet. Wiens will talk about Mars, the rover mission and what scientists have learned so far during a free talk Tuesday, May 14, at 7 p.m. at the James A. Little Theater in Santa Fe. (full story)

RA Students Garner Lab Scholarships

Sixteen Rio Arriba County students are among 73 Northern New Mexicans who were awarded a total of $411,500 in scholarships from the Los Alamos National Laboratory Employees'Scholarship Fund to realize their dreams of attending college. (Story in hard-copy edition only)

Never-before-seen energy pattern observed at National High Magnetic Field Laboratory

Two research teams at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory (MagLab) broke through a nearly40-year barrier recently when they observed a never-before-seen energy pattern.

“The observation of the ‘Hofstadter butterfly’ marks a real landmark in condensed matter physics and high magnetic field research,” said Greg Boebinger, director of the MagLab. “It opens a new experimental direction in materials research.” (full story)

 
Congressional committees OK added spending for LANL cleanup

Congressional committees have approved transferring funds that will provide an extra $19 million for cleaning up radioactive waste at Los Alamos National Laboratory.

The votes came after a letter was sent to the committees by Democratic Senators Tom Udall and Martin Heinrich and U.S. Rep. Ben Ray Luján (D-3rd District) supporting the transfer, which was requested by the Department of Energy (full story).

This story also appeared on KRQE

as well as the Albuquerque Journal, the Los Alamos Monitor and elsewhere.

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